Dog owners, lovers and fanciers often enjoy giving their pet a special treat as much as the dogs enjoy receiving the treat. The owner may be motivated by a desire to express their affection for their pet or they may give their pet such a treat as a reward for some special activity. Often ice cream, which is a product intended for human consumption, is the treat which is given to dogs. Dogs find it very appetizing.
Ice cream as a pet treat has two very important advantages. It is a treat to humans and it is similarly a treat which dogs enjoy. The dog owner thereby can understand and somewhat participate in the enjoyment which the dog receives from the ice cream. It is human nature to feed a dog a food which humans enjoy in the belief that what is particularly appetizing for man will also be particularly appetizing for "man's best friend".
Although dogs love its coldness and creamy consistency, ice cream unfortunately is not nutritious for a dog and can lead to unhealthy conditions. For example, feeding ice cream may dilute a dog's regular diet by acting as a substitute for nutritious feed, thereby reducing the dog's intake of its nutritious feed. Additionally, the high sugar content of ice cream will tend to cause diarrhea if the dog consumes excessive amounts.
There is, therefore, a need for a pet food which can satisfy the normal human psychological desire to give a treat to a pet, which is a particularly appetizing treat for the pet and yet, which is nutritionally healthful and valuable to the pet.
The prior art contains a great variety of pet feeds as well as a great variety of frozen products such as ice cream, ice milks, etc., which are intended for human consumption. Not only is a frozen and nutritious pet food currently unknown, but a pet food which has the composition and which is manufactured according to the methods of the present invention, is entirely unknown.
A typical example of such pet foods is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,908,025. Another pet food is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,595,666.
Ice cream has, of course, been known for decades. However, because of its expensive cost and its popularity, several ice cream substitutes or imitation ice creams have also been developed. Examples of these are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,914,441, 3,345,185, 3,003,882 and 2,658,831.